Burgoyne’s Cove, is comprised of three small coves, including New Burnt Cove and Clifton, that each has been designated as three separate communities. According to local residents, the three areas are considered one community and utilize the same services such as the Community Hall, Volunteer Fire Department, Recreation Association and church. Up until its closure, children from all three coves attended the small rural school.

Rueban Carberry from Old Bonaventure, seeking a new place to live, traveled to the area now known as Burgoyne’s Cove. He found a belt of rolling hills and fertile valleys, covered with dense forest as far as the eye could see. After Carberry cleared the land for his “Garden of Eden”, a cabin and vegetable gardens, other families heard of this beautiful area and came to live. People from Trinity Bay and Conception Bay moved to the area and so the community was born.

Decks Awash, Vol. 20, No. 2, March/April 1991 featured the area of Smith Sound. It noted that Burgoyne’s Cove was also called Burgeon’s Cove and Burgum’s Cove in early census reports. The origin of the actual name, Burgoyne’s Cove is uncertain. Local lore has said that it was called after an English General who fought against the American Colonists in 1777 and died forty years before the community was settled. Research, found no connection between the community and the General unless it came through the immigration of some Irishmen who regarded General Burgoyne as a patriotic idol.

In early years, Burgoyne’s Cove residents were self sufficient, for the most part, with growing their own vegetables and raising their own animals. They supplemented their diets with meat and fish. Most families were dependent on the logging and fishing industry for income. In mid spring/early summer, the fishermen went to Labrador as share men on schooners. Many times, the merchant or ship owner had a residence on the Labrador where the crew spent the summer months. Shares were given to crew members, it was a way for the men to make a little extra money for the family. The community was left to the women and children to tend to the vegetable gardens and animals. The men would return home in the fall to help make the hay for winter fodder for the animals.

During the winter, the men would engage in the logging industry. In the early 1900’s, men went logging in the fall and winter, they cut their logs and hauled them to the pond until spring thaw. Then they drove their logs downstream to the bay. The logs were then sawed and any that was being shipped were brought to the wharf to be loaded. Sometimes the lumber had to be taken by small boats and offloaded onto the anchored schooner and then the lumber would be taken to St. John’s or Conception Bay South area. “The Cutler” was a prominent schooner to service this area.

In the 1850’s, William, George and Jubal Carberry began quarrying slate at Nut Cove, located on the North side of Smith Sound, close to the community of Burgoyne’s Cove. In 1860, John Currie, originally from Wales, obtained a land grant beside the Carberry’s quarry. A professional slater by trade, he operated the new quarry for over 30 years before selling it to A. J. Harvey in the fall of 1899. The new owners, along with others, incorporated the Newfoundland Slate Company Limited. The Carberry’s, who had refused an earlier offer to sell their quarry, sold their shares in 1900. In the forthcoming years, changes in management and other related problems resulted in the last shipment of slate leaving the quarry in the fall of 1906. In the 1980’s, John Carrick from Ontario and John Hurley Sr. from Newfoundland joined together to reopen the quarry under the name of Newfoundland Slate. This operation was in existence until 1997. In 2000, John Hurley Sr. reopened the slate quarry under the name Hurley Slate Works Company Limited. In 2007 John Hurley Jr is still operating the company.

Residents travel to nearby Clarenville for shopping, banking and medical services. The community has a Volunteer Fire Department.

Burgoyne’s Cove, overlooking Random Island and the waters of Smith Sound, offers visitors a quiet walk in the countryside or on the beach with wildlife and seabirds easily available to be photographed throughout the area. Many residents in this small community have retired with those employed working in the slate quarry or in nearby communities.

The community also has a one kilometer, well marked trail to the site of a Corvair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft which crashed on Mar. 18, 1953.This site has information boards and rest areas for people who are interested in hiking to the crash site. For more information check out the website, created by Paul Tilley outlining the details of the crash and pictures of the crash site.

Web Site: Corvair B-36 Crash Site

The only business found in the community is:

Hurley Slate Works Company Limited
Roofing Slate & Landscaping Supplies (flagstone, walling rock , steps)
(709) 663-3002